BOOK XXI. xLiii. 73-xLiv. 76 



hives are full, and then they are taken back and tlie 

 honey is extracted. In Spain too for a like reason 

 they carry the hives about on mules. (XLIV.) The 

 food of bees is of so much importance that even their 

 honey may become poisonous. At Heraclia in 

 Pontus the honey turns out in certain years very 

 deadly, and that from the same bees. As the 

 authorities have not said from what flowers this 

 honey is extracted, I will myself put on record what 

 I have ascertained. There is a plant which, from its 

 deadly eflTect even on cattle, more particularly upon 

 goats, is called aegolethron." From the blossom 

 of this, when it withers in a rainy spring, bees 

 take in a noxious poison. Thus it happens that it 

 is not in all years that the danger is encountered. 

 The signs of poisonous honey are that it does not 

 thicken at all, its colour inchnes to red, its smell is 

 strange and at once causes sneezing, and it is heavier 

 than harmless honey. Cattle which have eaten it 

 throw themselves on the ground, seeking to cool 

 themselves, for they actually drip with sweat. 

 Remedies are many, and I will give them in their 

 proper place.'' But some should be given at once, 

 as the danger is so insidious : there is old honey 

 wine, made from the finest honey, with rue, and also 

 salted fish, these to be repeated several times should 

 the stomach reject them. It is an established fact 

 that this poison, through the excreta, affects even 

 dogs, which suffer similar torture. It is a fact, 

 however, that honey wine made with poisonous 

 honey is, after maturing, quite harmless, and that 

 ■ there is nothing better than this honey, mixed with 

 costum, for improving the skin of women, or, mixed 

 wth aloes, for the treatment of bruises. 



215 



